Court defers hearing in Salman Khan's case till April 15

The court of chief judicial magistrate (CJM) in Jodhpur on Monday adjourned the hearing against film actor Salman Khan, booked under the Arms Act, till April 15, for the want of case record.

Salman could not produce the record in the CJM court, as it was already dispatched to the District and Session Court (Jodhpur district) following a revision petition filed separately by Khan.

The actor had approached the district court after the CJM court in its previous hearing on January 29 had refused Salman’s plea to club the Arms Act case with the Kankani poaching case and fixed March 10 (Monday) as the next date of hearing. While hearing the revision petition by Salman, the district court sought the case record, which has been sent to it. The district court has fixed March 20 as the next date for hearing the case.

On January 29, after recording statements of Salman in the Arms Act case, the CJM court had directed the actor to produce witnesses if any in his defence on Monday. The court adjourned the hearing on Monday till April 15, after Salman pleaded inability to produce the case record, which was already dispatched to the district court.

The actor was booked for possessing weapons with expired licence, but trial in the Arms Act case resumed on May 25 last year after seven years of suspension following Rajasthan high court’s rejection of the revision petition filed by the state government in 2006. The CJM, after examining all prosecution witnesses, on January 29 recorded Salman’s statement, in which he denied the charges. Salman is accused of killing endangered deer while shooting Hum Saath Saath Hain in Jodhpur in 1998.